An update

I think the end is near for the OatCouture Auntie's afghan. According to the pattern, I completed the final purl row last night BUT I have the need to make the edging wider so will begin work on another 2 or 3 repeats of the last 2 rows. Basically a garter stitch increasing on the knit round. Another thing I'll do is move it to a few more circular needles so that I can really see the size. It's knit in the round and currently 580+ stitches on a 32 inch needle. A bit cramped.

After my love-fest over the Lantern Moon needles the other day, I shopped around their website a bit more and found these (scroll down, down, down) Needle Sleeves. Silk no less. Lantern Moon needles deserve these!

A request will be made to the powers-that-can-place-orders at
Ewe Knit Kits on Saturday. Want me to order some for you?

A Blonde Sunday

I was a knitting blob yesterday and enjoyed every minute of it.  Besides it was raining and AMC had a Robert Redford marathon: 

The Great Gatsby ..I saw this in the theater so many years ago and I remember reading that it took many takes to get the silk shirts to "float".  After each take everyone would pitch in and refold shirts.

Barefoot in the Park...he played the same character on Broadway

This Property is Condemned ... what a cast.  Natalie Wood, Charles Bronson, Robert Blake and Robert Redford.  It was RR at his prime.  And hard to watch Natalie in the water now knowing how deathly afraid she was. 

The Natural...never one of my favorites, to cliche for me...but RR was nice to look at.

I did make a knitting run at noon. Spooling Around had their 15% off sale. I wanted to try the Clover Bamboo needles and they carry them. I picked up sizes 4 and 5 and Lantern Moon in Blackwood in size 7. 

Speaking of Lantern Moon,     Ewe Knit Kits and Yarn received a shipment from them this past week. All I can say is I now love Lantern Moon products.

Greeting me when I unlocked the front door Saturday morning was This Guy smiling up at me as I stepped inside. I flipped on the front lights and noticed a new stack of Rice Baskets in natural, purple, blue and red. Dropping my bags (to a casual observer I probably look like I'm spending a week with all the bags I carry for my 8 hour day) in the office I headed to the back set of lights when I saw the Silk Needle cases and the basket of Needles and a few more Sheep Mats smiling up at me. And this great (scroll down the page) display stand is now filled with mohair.

K came in and we oow'd and ahhh'd over the new toys until we realized it was after 10:00 and the registers hadn't been opened. Oops!

Not having an easy-to-work-on-project in progress, I grabbed the size 10.5US/6.5mm LM Rosewood needles and a skein of Trendsetters Spiral to make swatches while I taught a Felting Class. Well, both the needles and 4 skeins of the yarn went home with me. Another shawl on the way.

Quite a few of the baskets, all but 1 of the needle rolls and several sets of the needles went home with knitters or knitters husbands ( it was her birthday).

I almost forgot...Jon Provost was in This Property Is Condemned.  He was my first movie star crush...well, he,  Sky King and Sgt. Preston. 

This just in....

Ewe Knit Kits & Yarn is very happy to announce the date for KnittaPalooza II !

It will be the weekend of March 10, 2005..

One of our guest teachers will be.................Lily Chin!

We are soooooo excited to have her and I know you are too! There will be other names to share shortly...

Look for the post card with additional information! We are offering a discount for early registrants! Be sure to be one of the first to sign up and SAVE!

Signup for futher updates at :  Ewe Knit Kits website.

The knitting is done...

....and tonight I'll be weaving in all the little ends of the French Market bag.  I am so pleased with the results.  My knitting is even and I was able  to keep out the jog on most rows.  But the weaving in of the ends will take some time.  Probably 20 color changes and I carried 2 colors on most rows and doubled to boot.
 
I spent approximatly 22 hours knitting.  I'll let you know how long sewing in ends take.

What the....wonder how much money it took to make that decision?  Or did she know?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=762&e=1&u=/nm/20040720/en_nm/people_jackson_dc

What the

I didn't mean to do it

...continue knitting the French Market bag that is.   My plan was to knit only the bottom last Sunday afternoon, then alternate working on it and the Oat Couture baby Afghan...oh well.  I'm at least 1/2 up the side of the bag now and it is stunning!   Knitting in a 2 handed fair isle way is not really working out all that well.  The yarn (Rowan's Summer Tweed held double) is very stiff and hard for me to wrap.  But that's okay, I'm really enjoying the knitting and the results.    
 
And the party bags...I understand they're selling really well and several customers have requested special orders.   You can see them here http://store.yahoo.com/lbevanshandknits/ and order them here  http://www.eweknitkits.com.

I've added a new Knitting Blog Ring over on the side.  Knitters Review..check it out.  Small ring right now but I know it will grow.   (and I don't know why it's out there twice, I can see it in the Template only once.)
 
I'm liking the changes Blogger has made...italics, bold, color with the touch of a mouse. 
 
I'm heading over to http://www.spoolingaround.com,  the local Quilt shop, tonight for their LockIn.  This is a monthly gathering of Quilters (and new tonight Knitters) from 6:00 pm until midnight.  You can work on your projects uninterrupted, eat pizza or subs and chat the night away for a $5 cover charge.  Not a bad deal.  And Susan, the owner, has just added yarn to her inventory.     I'm not sure what "lockin" means....lock you in the store?  is it a quiling term?  I'll find out tonight.

Mr. Johnson never showed up with the bookcases.  I told him to please refund my deposit.  We'll see if I have to go further than just asking.
 
Roof cleaners did a great job on my roof...it's light grey again!   And they're back today to wash the house.
 
And the carpet is clean.
 
Now if it can all just stay cleaned and weeded I'll be happy.
 
I'm not happy that Martha was found guilty...and even less happy about the sentence!
 

 

 

I love 3 day weekends

Especially when my house is clean, my yard is neat and tidy, and it rains on Sunday.

Saturday was a yarn selling day at Ewe Knit Kits and Yarn. We were nicely busy with lots of new customers stopping in while on vacation.

The drawstring Party Bags from LBEvans came in. I couldn't resist a peek into each of the kits. Each kit has a different Fair Isle pattern. But don't be put off, the instructions and chart are easy to read. And if you don't want a pattern just knit stripes. They all use ribbon and recycled sari silk. The beads are glass and very pretty. The suede is nice, not a cheap imitation. I knit the purple one this weekend. It was quick (about 50 rows of knitting) and easy. And I want to keep it....but it will be a store sample. I'll visit on Saturdays.

But I have my own to knit, The French Market Tote..Swirly Tweed with the red leather.

The bad news was the chart was left out of the instruction leaflet....the good news was the chart was left out of the instruction leaflet. (A call on Tuesday had the chart sent via email the same day and also sent via US mail)....

....or I wouldn't be working on the Oat Couture Auntie's Afgan. I'm up to 500 stitches per row now. Takes about 30 min per row without interuptions. It's a great pattern, simple 2 row repeat with a nice border. I have about 16 rows left to knit.

So my plan is to finish the Auntie's Afghan this week and hopefully begin the French Market tote on Sunday.

I must remind myself of the little Dale of Norway baby hat that I carry around. I haven't had much time to knit on it recently. Maybe I can work in a 1/2 break later today.

Oh wait...if Mr. Johnson brings the bookcases this Sunday there will be no knitting...that's okay, I can live wih that.

Hrump.....I have this book in my to read pile....

You're One Hundred Years of Solitude!

by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Lonely and struggling, you've been around for a very long time.
Conflict has filled most of your life and torn apart nearly everyone you know. Yet there
is something majestic and even epic about your presence in the world. You love life all
the more for having seen its decimation. After all, it takes a village.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

....whelmed?

I have been feeling overwhelmed the last few weeks. I couldn't finish anything I had set out to do. My house needed cleaning, the roof needs to be washed, the gutters cleaned, the yarn weeded, the carpet cleaned, grocery purchased, knitting projects completed, magazines and books sorted and tossed, and well I could go on.

So I made a list. It looked like this:
scrub house from top to bottom
weed yard front and back
clean roof of fungus
clean gutters and replace screening
clean carpets
get final date for TV center or cancel order
stock freezer and pantry
sort magazines
sort books
re-organize yarn back into a semblance of order
clean off dining room table (see organize yarn)

I looked at my list and decided what I could hire someone to do.
scrub house from top to bottom CustomMaid
weed yard front and back
clean roof of fungus Larry Ambrose
clean gutters and replace screening Larry Ambrose
clean carpets ChemDry
get final date for TV center or cancel order Charles Johnson
stock freezer and pantry
sort magazines
sort books
re-organize yarn back into a semblance of order
clean off dining room table (see organize yarn)

Which left me:
weeding
grocery shopping
sorting books and magazines
organizing yarn (again)

So last week I made phone calls:
www.CustomMaid.com had an opening on Tuesday. My house shines! It was the first time I've had anyone clean my house. Wasn't sure what to expect. But at 11:30 3 ladies knocked on my door and at 2:00 they left. They're coming back once a month.

Larry Ambrose, the neighborhood roofing and dryvit guy, can come next week to powerwash and treat my icky roof. If you live in the south you'll understand what I mean. He's even going to paint the rusty vent covers and clean out my gutters. I have those protective screens to keep out the leaves, but the heavy rains from Isabelle pushed quite a bit of it down into the gutter which has trapped leaves and just made a mess.

ChemDry can come on the 5th to clean the carpets that CustomMaid vaccummed really well.

And Mr. Johnson, who promised me last February that he'd have my new TV hutch and bookcases done by the end of March...er, April..May for sure...would deliver said hutch and bookcase the weekend of the 11th. If not, a refund of my deposit. I mean, I can be patient but goodness!

Whew! Just geting that accomplished made me feel more enthused about the rest.

Sunday I spent straightening up, putting things where they belong. I had become lazy and just put things where ever.

That accomplished, Monday morning I weeded both back and front yards. Once I got started it only took me an hour. I guess it was everything else on top of it.

Monday and Tuesday I worked from home. Conference calls beginning at Noon and lasting until late provided me mornings to get things done.

And I did grocery shop on Sunday. I usually don't like to do that. That "day of rest" thing. I think everything should close up once ina while. But I took advantage of Harris Teeter's hours and spent $80 to restock the pantry and freezer. I can now fix a decent meal.

This weekend I'll sort through books and magazines. When Mr. Johnson delivers (see I'm being optimistic) the new shelving ....Oh and I order those things that slide underneath furniture so that your furniture slides easly.

Knitting has been interesting:

I finsihed a Harriett bag. Felted. Now need handles.
Oat Couture's Aunties Afgan is still on the needles. When will I learn to COUNT the stitches? I've frogged 3 times now. Not the whole thing, but 10 rows. 444 stitches. I'm on the last 32 rows now so hopefully I'll be finished this weekend.

But I probably won't because the purses that we ordered from ....arrived at Ewe Knit Kits and I can't wait to get my hands on them. We ordered the party bags from LBEvans.

Well, blogger or the internet or both are acting up. I'm going to log off and review this post later.